Video: MLK niece says her uncle would have been a pro-life social conservative today

posted at 12:10 pm on January 16, 2012 by Ed Morrissey

Today we honor Martin Luther King Jr and his contribution to our nation through the non-violent and ultimately successful struggle to restore civil rights to all citizens of the United States — a struggle that took his own life in a 1968 assassination. His niece, Dr. Alveda King, fondly remembers her uncle and her own father in this segment on Fox & Friends on this holiday. Dr. Alveda King is a tireless activist for the pro-life cause, and she asserts in this interview that had her uncle lived to see today, he’d be considered a pro-life, social conservative:

It’s always a little dangerous to take historical figures and plug them into current political paradigms. If anyone can do that well, though, it would be the family of those historical figures, especially those with direct personal experience with them. It’s also very possible that other members of MLK’s family will object to this characterization, but it’s hardly a new claim for Alveda, who has insisted for a long time that her uncle would have found abortion on demand abhorrent, both as a preacher and an advocate for the African-American communities of the nation.

That is one of the ways in which the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr challenges us. How do we see “the Dream” today, and how can we best ensure that people will be valued not for the color of their skin but for the content of their character? How do we value them at all if we throw away millions of Americans before they even have a chance to enter our world simply for being inconvenient?

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If he were alive today he would be FURIOUS at the people who claim to represent him. No matter anyway because had he lived the media would have destroyed him and his family just like they’ve done to anyone else who disagrees with them

Dear Ken,
This year, as we honor the legacy of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice asks all Americans to reflect on the meaning of Dr. King’s vision of the “beloved community” within the struggle for reproductive justice.
The beloved community Dr. King envisioned is a community of love and justice, free of racism, poverty and militarism; a community in which “we are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.” There would be no place, in this beloved community, for the oppression of women and children, those who are poor, young and people of color.
Today, many forms of injustice continue to undermine this beloved community, and our vision of full reproductive justice. Economic instability, government inaction, and legal restrictions threaten the ability of women to access reproductive health services and the ability of people to care for their families.
As we remember Dr. King, and on this day of service, Americans from all walks of life are asked to work together to provide solutions to our most pressing national problems.
We at the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice ask Americans to take a bold step toward the “beloved community.” We ask you to connect traditional justice concerns about poverty, inequality, oppression, and lack of opportunity to reproductive justice – to create a community that positively supports a full range of reproductive health services as central to creating strong families and a strong nation.
For your reflection on this day, I’m sharing below links to two essays written by clergy members of RCRC. It is my personal hope that the wisdom of Dr. King may be our guide throughout the year.
For peace and faith,
Sonya Crudup
Chief Operating Officer
Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
________________________________________
Justice: An Ever-flowing Stream
by Rev. Dr. Alethea Smith-Withers, RCRC Board Member
Where Do We Go From Here: Reflections on Whiteness and Reproductive Justice for MLK Day
by Darcy Baxter, Unitarian Universalist ministerial candidate
________________________________________REPLY:

Ms. Crudup,

Every once and a while one of your e-newsletters is so beyond the pale, I have to work to stop myself from writing back in outrage. This time, I couldn’t fight the impulse.

Is there any source you could provide expressing Dr. King’s appeals for “reproductive rights”; or as it is more commonly known; abortion? I’ve never heard of any such support. I sense that this is merely a blatant and cynical misappropriation of Dr. King’s legacy designed to appeal to your core constituency. At the very least, it’s more than a little off-putting. And it’s just, plain wrong.

The quote you include, “we are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.” runs 180 degrees counter to your offensive attempt to link Dr. King’s legacy to abortion. If one accepts his concept of a “single garment of DESTINY”, implicitly meant as a course preordained by God for us all; how can one honestly argue for human interference in said destiny? To claim to be a religious organization while ignoring this most basic tenet is ignorant, at best. It is common to all monotheistic faith groups that God has a plan, a destiny; for us all. Whether one believes an embryo is a human being or not, one cannot deny the hand of God in the creation process without denying the all encompassing power God has to bestow upon us a “destiny”; the breath of life. To deny God that power is to deny God. It’s really as simple as that.

That’s a pretty sticky position for a supposedly religious organization to take. However, it would pose no such problem for a secular, political one. In the end, that’s all you are and you know it. To claim the mantle of God and his servant, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for your coalition’s political agenda is an egregious sin. Unfortunately, my sense is that you are as uncomfortable and unfamiliar with the concept of sin as you are of destiny.

As was the case with slavery and the denial of civil rights, when mere mortals presume to play God and affect the destiny of their fellow Man, they become destined for severe judgment, either here, or beyond. I think Dr. King would agree.

I spoke to my 10yr-old son about the holiday today. He told me that his teachers discussed the holiday, but failed to mention that Dr. King was a reverend and frequently referred to God in his speeches. My son was surprised to learn from these things from me. He just thought Dr. King was a guy whose only job was to fight to end racism.

He had never been shown a speech by Dr. King, so I did that for him today. I realized that there is no way a school would show these speeches in the classroom today, not with all the moral thought and references to God in them.

The most valuable thing he took from it was not that Dr. King wanted equal rights, but that he reminded us that God expects us to love all men the same, and that character is how you are defined in the world. Not something they would teach him at school these days.

It must be strange being a lib these days, what with all the facts that contradict their world view. No wonder they re-write history.

He also would have been in favor of instigating an unnecessary confrontation with the cops, and sending in small children to have their brains bashed in so he could make a name for himself, just like he did in Birmingham.

What’s the point exactly? I grow weary of the myth that was but another race hustler.